Vol. XXXIX. No. 22. 
Whole No. 1583. 
[Entered 
Industrial ®o|irs, 
OLEOMARGARINE. 
What It la and How It la Mode. 
So much had been Baid about oleomargarine 
that our readers are quite familiar with the 
term, without, perhaps, having any 
clear idea of what the substance is 
and how it is produced. A brief 
description of the process of mann- 
facture, with illustrations, will 
therefore prove alike interesting 
and instructive, especially as the 
article is just at present causing 
some agitation in the dairy world. 
How It Originated. 
The process by wnieh oleomar¬ 
garine is made was first discovered 
some ten or twelve years ago by 
the French chemist M. Mege-Mou- 
ries, who was commissioned by 
his government to investigate cer¬ 
tain questions in domestic econ¬ 
omy. He began work on the theory 
that the formation of the butter 
contained in milk was due to the 
absorption of fat from the animal 
tissues. Taking this as a hypo¬ 
thesis, he instituted a series of ex¬ 
periments with beef fat, which 
terminated in the production of u 
Bubs lance that greatly resembled 
butter and which is now known as 
oleomargarine. It is under He 
pateut taken out on bis process 
that the bulk of it is now mauu 
factured. The extensive establish 
meat in this city siiuuted at West 
48th St., North River, and owimd 
by the Commercial Manufacturing 
Company, was comuieuced in 1876, 
and it hue now assumed such pro¬ 
portions that it turns out, on an 
average, 45,000pounds of oleomar¬ 
garine aday. To fully comprehend 
the subject we will follow 
The Proceis of Manufacture 
step by step, from beginning to end, and by 
means of our abundant illustrations it will be 
readily understood. The fat from the beeves 
killed during the day at the several abattoirs 
__ NEW YORK, MAY 29, 1880. 
ocordlnK to Act of OongTeaa. in the year 1880, by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
i Pkice Five Cents, 
1 82.00 Per Year. 
in the city, is brought to the factory each even¬ 
ing, where after having been weighed, it is 
thrown into large vats, thoroughly washed in 
several waters of different temperatures, and 
sorted. The pieces containing a comparatively 
small percentage of oil are separated for the 
making of soap, while the richer portions are 
thrown into an adjoining vat. In the next 
hashing it is to break up the tissues so that the 
oil can be separated therefrom at a low tem¬ 
perature ; if the fat were to be melted at a high 
temperature, the oil would be taiuted by a 
rank, tallowy flavor which would render it 
worthless as an article of food. From the 
hashing machines the fat is conveyed to the 
melting tanks, shown at 4 in fig. 180. These 
mm 
PORTION OF PRESS ROOM.—Fly. 177. 
step of the process this selected and cleansed 
fat is elevated to the floor above, where it is 
thoroughly cut up by going through a hashing 
machine, and then melted. The object in 
consist of a series of Iron kettles, or caldrons, 
raised some distance from the floor, and having 
double sides, the space between which is filled 
with hot water. The water is heated by steam 
.he tissues so that the and melts the fat at from 122® to 124 o F. 
from at a low tem- During the process of melting the fat is stirred 
to be melted at a high by arms attached to a revolving shaft, which 
uld be taiuted by a may be seen in the engraving; hut when the 
ich would render It melting is completed, this stirring ceases and 
of food. From the the tissue settles to the bottom. The liquid 
.t is conveyed to the portion is then siphoned off into square wooden 
4 in fig. 180. These tanks on wheels and drawn into the press room 
to rest and await the granulation 
of the stearine, which takes place m 
the coarse of about 36 hours. 
When thus granula;ed. the fat 
greatly resembles granulaled clo¬ 
ver honey, and is nearly odorless. 
The next step consists in separa¬ 
ting the stearine from the oil, or 
oleomargarine proper. This is 
iccomplished by straining under 
pressure. The operat'on may be 
seen in fig. 177, which represents 
t portion of the press-room. To 
he left in the figure are seen sev¬ 
eral hydraulic presses under each 
of which is placed a series ot gal¬ 
vanized iron plates. The now re¬ 
fined fat is removed from the 
ranks by the haods and packed m 
Moths of the beavieetduck. Some 
eight or ten of these packages are 
placed on each iron plate, and 
when all are thus filled, a slo*]y 
increasing pressure is brought to 
bear upon the packages UDder 
which the oil percolates out 
through the cloth, and is collected 
in a tin basin underneath, from 
which it runs into a tank fed by 
all the presses. 
The stearine, on the other hand, remains in the cloth in foim of a 
clair, white, solid cake. It is removed by a flirt of the cloth, as 
seen in the back ground of figure 177, and is then broken up and 
shipped to the candle factory. The oil. as it runs from the press, 
is a transparent, amber-colored liquid without odor and almost 
tasteless. These packages are put up very rapidly. Forms about the 
size of a brick are attached to a wheel which is raised ou a stool aud 
revolves horizontally. One man places the cloth over the form, a 
second fills it with fat front the tank-car standing by. while a third 
folds it up, and a fourth puts the packages 
under the press. Large quantities of the oil are 
kettles, or caldrons, barreled and exported to Europe, especially to 
the floor, and having Holland, where it is churned and made into 
tween which is filled oleomargarine. Following this comes the 
er is heated by steam process of churning, the scenes of which are 
THE MANUFACTURE OF OLEOMARGARINE 
